Purges

Chun zealously pushed his campaign to weed out corruption. The
clean-up campaign began in May 1980 when Kim Chong-p'il and others were
forced to give up their wealth and retire from politics. In June some
300 senior KCIA agents were dismissed. In July 1980, more than 230
senior officials, including former cabinet officers, were dismissed on
corruption charges. The ax also fell on 4,760 low-level officials in the
government, state-owned firms, and banks, with the proviso that the
former officials not be rehired by such firms within two years. The
Martial Law Command arrested 17 prominent politicians of both the
government and opposition parties for investigation and removed some 400
bank officials, including 4 bank presidents and 21 vice presidents. The
government also announced the dismissal of 1,819 officials of public
enterprises and affiliated agencies, including 39 (some 25 percent) of
the presidents and vice presidents of such enterprises and banks and 128
board directors (more than 22 percent).

The "clean-up campaign" also extended to the mass media. On
July 31, 1980, the 172 periodicals that allegedly caused "social
decay and juvenile delinquency" were summarily abolished, among
them some of the finest intellectual magazines of liberal inclination
and prestigious journals for general audiences. This action resulted in
the dismissal of hundreds of journalists and staff. The daily newspapers
not affected by the purge also were directed to weed out
"corrupting"--that is, liberal writers.